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Lufthansa flight attendants strike at 3 airports
Source: Agencies |
September 4, 2012, Tuesday
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Online Edition
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A union representing Lufthansa flight attendants called members at Frankfurt and Berlin's Tegel airport out on strike today, escalating a pay dispute with Germany's biggest airline and forcing widespread flight cancelations.
The UFO union called on Berlin-based members to walk out for eight hours starting at 5 am (0300 GMT), and their counterparts at Frankfurt, Germany's busiest airport and Lufthansa's main hub, to follow at 6 am. (0400 GMT).
UFO also planned to hit Germany's second-busiest airport, Munich, today. An 11-hour walkout there was set to start at 1 pm. (1100 GMT).
Lufthansa said the walkouts would force it to cancel "a majority of flights." It listed around 200 flights as canceled this morning, most of them to and from Frankfurt - mostly on short- and medium-haul routes - but also flights to and from destinations including Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Beijing and Mexico City.
The union opened its strike campaign with an eight-hour walkout in Frankfurt last Friday and warned of more to come if Lufthansa didn't give ground. It has given only a few hours' notice of where and when it plans to strike.
UFO is seeking a 5 percent pay raise for the airline's more than 18,000 cabin crew workers. Lufthansa has said it is offering a 3.5 percent raise.
Other issues in their dispute include the possibility of Lufthansa transferring flight attendants to its partner budget airlines with cheaper contracts as part of a cost-saving program.
Lufthansa is trying to cut costs amid tough competition from budget carriers in Europe and from rising Gulf airlines.
The UFO union called on Berlin-based members to walk out for eight hours starting at 5 am (0300 GMT), and their counterparts at Frankfurt, Germany's busiest airport and Lufthansa's main hub, to follow at 6 am. (0400 GMT).
UFO also planned to hit Germany's second-busiest airport, Munich, today. An 11-hour walkout there was set to start at 1 pm. (1100 GMT).
Lufthansa said the walkouts would force it to cancel "a majority of flights." It listed around 200 flights as canceled this morning, most of them to and from Frankfurt - mostly on short- and medium-haul routes - but also flights to and from destinations including Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Beijing and Mexico City.
The union opened its strike campaign with an eight-hour walkout in Frankfurt last Friday and warned of more to come if Lufthansa didn't give ground. It has given only a few hours' notice of where and when it plans to strike.
UFO is seeking a 5 percent pay raise for the airline's more than 18,000 cabin crew workers. Lufthansa has said it is offering a 3.5 percent raise.
Other issues in their dispute include the possibility of Lufthansa transferring flight attendants to its partner budget airlines with cheaper contracts as part of a cost-saving program.
Lufthansa is trying to cut costs amid tough competition from budget carriers in Europe and from rising Gulf airlines.
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